One of the main pillars of revolutionary communist movement in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh (now Telengana and Andhra Pradesh) and one of the main builders of Godavari Valley Resistance Struggle, Member of the Central Committee of CPI(ML)-New Democracy and Secretary of its Telengana State Committee, Com. Rayala Subhash Chandra Bose (Ravi) breathed his last at about 7 PM on March 9, 2016. With his death, CPI(ML)-New Democracy and the revolutionary movement of India has lost one of its foremost leaders and the struggling people of the country have lost one of their foremost fighters.

Com. Ravi died in harness. He suffered brain hemorrhage while he was summing up the discussion in a meeting of Telengana State Committee. He was immediately rushed to a hospital where doctors advised he be taken to Hyderabad. However, he was declared dead on arrival in Hyderabad hospital.

Com. Ravi symbolized the finest qualities of a revolutionary communist. His simple and disciplined life, his ideological conviction in Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought, his undaunted commitment to New Democratic Revolution, his organizational methods of taking everybody along while adhering to strict discipline, his willingness to take up arduous and risky tasks, his willingness to endure every hardship and offer every sacrifice in the interest of revolutionary movement made him stand out as one of the finest leaders of the revolutionary movement of the country.

Com. Ravi was born in 1948 in village Pindiporlu in Khammam district. His family actively participated in the Great Telengana Armed Struggle. His uncle, Rayala Venkata Narayana, was a leader in that heroic struggle.

Com. Ravi was studying for his B.Sc. in Govt. Degree College (SR&BGNR) in Khammam where he was drawn to revolutionary politics. Inspired by the Great Naxalbari peasant armed struggle, he drew towards politics of Naxalbari and joined the revolutionary movement in 1968. Com. Ravi started working in Students Federation (SF) which was in Khammam under the leadership of revolutionary communists. He left his studies and set out to develop armed struggle in the countryside. He organized armed squads. He embarked on a journey which continued upto his death. He went underground and remained so till the end of his life, 47 years in total. He has been among a few who endured such a long underground life in the course of revolutionary movement.

Com. Ravi remained active in the CPI(ML) then led by Com. Charu Mazumdar when there was a split among revolutionaries in Andhra Pradesh. He however realized the incorrectness of the left adventurist line which had grown in the leadership of CPI(ML). In 1972 he joined APRCP led by Com. C.P. Reddy. He played a prominent role in developing resistance struggle in Godavari Valley. From 1973 he led armed squads in Palvancha area which included forest areas of Palvancha and forest areas of West Godavari contiguous with it. Com. Ravi worked tirelessly to secure a base for the revolutionary movement among the tribals and non-tribal poor. While leading armed squads in these areas, Com. Ravi dauntlessly faced all the hardships, enemy attacks and state repression. He led by example inspiring fellow comrades. When Party faced serious problems in East Godavari in late 1980s, Com. Ravi spent several months in East Godavari forest areas rallying squads and party cadres.

Com. Ravi had led the Palvancha AC and later Khammam DC. He became a member of the Andhra Pradesh Provincial Committee in 1976. He was elected Secretary of APPC in 1989. Com. Ravi was elected member of the Central Committee in 1992 All India Party Congress and had been re-elected to the Central Committee in every Party Congress after that. He was also a member of the Polit-buro between 1992 and 2004. After bifurcation of old APPC into Telengana PC and APPC in 2014, Com. Ravi continued as Secretary of Telengana PC till his death. His uninterrupted leadership of the state movement and organization from 1989 to 2016 spanned over 27 years.

Com. Ravi not only led the Party and the movement in the state, he immensely cared for the cadres at different levels. He helped them by offering constructive suggestions regarding development of their work and solving problems. He applied himself in solving political and organizational problems faced by the comrades. He himself regularly studied and encouraged other comrades to study both classical Marxist literature as well as history of India and revolutionary movement. He inspired a generation of revolutionary communists in the state, particularly in Khammam. His life partner Com. Rama and younger brother Com. RCS are also state leaders of the Party and the movement.

Com. Ravi greatly prized the unity of the Party and of communist revolutionaries. He worked tirelessly for preserving the unity of CPI(ML)-New Democracy. He always strove to implement and ensure implementation of the decisions of Party. He always stood in theory and practice for subordination of the individual to the collective, of the personal to the party. He not only preached the communist ideals and lifestyle but lived them. Through selfless devotion to the people, revolution and party, he became an inspiration to a number of comrades.

Com. Ravi opposed revisionism and left adventurism. He had vast personal experience and deep study of the revolutionary movement to draw upon for convincingly putting the revolutionary perspective and policies before the comrades.

Com. Ravi’s sudden death has plunged leaders of cadres of CPI(ML)-New Democracy in Telengana, Andhra Pradesh and throughout the country in deep grief and sense of loss. His death has been heavy like a mountain for the leaders and cadres of the Party. Central Committee of CPI(ML)-New Democracy appeals to comrades to turn their grief into strength, to work with renewed vigour to intensify revolutionary movement and people’s struggles and take new democratic revolution to victory. His death is an irreparable loss and yet we have to strive to advance the revolutionary movement for which Com. Ravi lived and died. This would be the real homage to this untiring fighter for Indian revolution, this champion of the struggles of workers, peasants and toiling sections of the people of the country.

Com. Ravi’s revolutionary legacy will live forever among the rank and file of CPI(ML)-New Democracy and revolutionary movement of the country.

Central Committee dips its red banner in the revolutionary memory of the departed comrade. Central Committee calls upon all Party committees to hold meetings in memory of Com. Ravi between March 15 to March 26, 2016.